Portland observer., June 23, 1977, Page 3, Image 3

S
From behind the watt
h y im r,
**1 have been teaching ta U m public
■r ever a pactad oí ata
of approximately twenty
at U m Oregon Stato
have I
», that one would not
to be taught te
the watte of a state
The name of the enune b "BUek
Women“. a Bieck Studtaa academic col
lege course lor which each student can
receive three credit hours. it completed.
Neither would one expect to find the
instructor who teechee “«»cfc Women"
working with ouch eaee and patience with
aaeo society haa condemned aa “aocial
a . * .2
ta teaching
Them
iiiw w r~"HTT usmavra did M t AttSfld
Betty Akin's d u o to «tudy bar physical
beauty, but to ( i t a wisdom cf U m "Btaek
’ to reaped aa
of the Black eroman and her natural
abilitiea aad tatanta along with strength
and dignity.
“D on t let thia prison element of your
life be a burden around your neck, while
you're hero. Use It wiaely and eooeen
trate your effort» of academic learning in
b U m
Betty Akina, on th b night of June 7th.
bringing to a coocluaion what might
in
of
tion lor votanteertag her profession to
i an extraordinary subject. To
i Betty Akina, one must color her
tall, graceful, intelligent aad with the
skillful abilities to rotate her talents of
teaching th b aubject into the miada of
man a t a place where her aex does net
exist. One. atao muat color her young,
exdtiag. knowledgeable and experienced
Akina, “but i
haa always I
science." lectures Mra.
of all bo weaitaa. Thia
the Black man'a biggeot
by O artae W . Murphy
Freedom la just a word you often hear
from people in plastic houses they hold
ao dear.
To ride with the wind both hero and
there.
that b the freedom ere all like to ahare.
When you ace doom aad doing time,
what friend remembers to drop you a
line?
Ahi to taste the freshness of a cool
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ABOUT BOCK Y B U T T E J A IL
by Matthew EBatt
or Juat to ait in the shade e f a tree.
To feel peace w ith no trouble or strife,
Betty Akina waa born in Daavflta. K y„
where she graduated at Bate High School
and in IM S received her bachelor of
science degree at Fiak Univoraity in
Naahvilta. Tenneeaee. Coming west and
attending Oregon State University.
Batty received her master's in Education.
Today abe teaches at 0 8 U in the School
of Education. Mra. Akina may possibly
he taking a trip to Africa next tall.
She haa been one of two women
volunteered their teaching
to Black iaamtea th b spring at O.8.P.
Asked why ahe volunteered to teach to
Black men at O.S.P. thia “new" course,
she stated. " I firmly believe if we d ent
care for our ©era, we can’t
others ignore ua."
Yea, color Betty Akina beautiful, but
definately color Betty Akina a Black
fiozars
tor sooner or later hell get yours and
mine.
Death piaym hb games through all
eternity,
then laughs at the fools who can not aee.
No one can escape this meek ef death,
lor he haa been hero since man'a first
breath.
lor I am a man who b dedicated to Ufa.
Now that my freedom ia ao very near,
that b what I cherish and hold ao very
This I believe to truly be.
Only in death can you really be free.
DEATH
Death is a man who comes
but once in Ufa,
to collect hb toll for your
trouble and strife.
Its not your body that he wants,
for th b he detests.
He cornea to collect your soul,
for it b th b he likes best.
He has the patience of eternal time.
P in t ef all, Td like to mention that I
waa 17 y e a n ef age when I was remanded
to adult court. Remanded on charges of
Burglary in the 1st degree. I was sent to
Rocky Butte Jail. I waa sent to the
security unit.
For what?
I don't
understand. Later, it was brought to my
attention by a commander that I waa
being held in lock-up because of my poet
history of violence.
A fter a while I
realised that there were people incarcer­
ated in Rocky Butte Jail for crimes far
more serious than mine. Violent Crimea
of course. Now that Tm aware of the
reason I who put in the security unit. I
questioned them people (Speaking e f the
commander) eoawerning their reason.
A fter two weeks of being in the
security unit I was placed with the
population. I t took me tw o weeks to
realise that I was being treated uafohrill
AUTO INSURANCE
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Wetaera Powers Te Prom Booth Africa
(PN S/AN I-Though Zaire's
aime to have won hb
in Shabi
three confidential reports on bin
recently by the French
bate Zaire's I
still be clouded. The reports, mid to
be from C IA representatives in Zaire,
to the French
that Zaire b incapable of
"Despite a l the m ilita ry aad technical*
aid it km received, the Zairota army
Jly incapable of
; Ma raapnnaihiHttaa." French advie-
! ta said to bave written.
“Our taarbntaiana aad military advisors
are conducting their mta ainn in very
difficult dreumstanees aad. without the
Moroccan tatarvmrtnu Mobutu's
bave already collapsed."
Colonel Diimi
i state of the Zaire army ta
ta bo organisation. no
motivation...and moat
tag."
The C IA report allegedly adds, “The
O aN em M n
L O N D O N . M ay 2« ( P N 8 /A N I—
Ftve major western powera-tbe U A ,
Greet Britain, France. Weet Germany
tag to
ita
Booth Africa with a
for terminating Re fltagal
to th e
While Britain and the U A . have active­
ly intervened in Rhodesia, the western
powers bave so for taken no action co
southern Africa's other Black-white
guerrilla conflict, in Namibia. But now
says M has learned
will pram South
Africa far the release of political prison­
ers in Namibie, a commitment to with­
drew Me troops, territory-wise elections
aad an aad to prohibitions against the
Namibian nationalist movement 8W A P 0 .
South Africa has previously refused
them conditions, which approximate the
of the SWAPO guerrilla move
roeognbed by the United Nations
I legitimate representative of the
In order to exclude the
SWAPO from powa
Africa organised the Turaball
tutionel Conference, attended by :
of the territory's ethnie groups.
The conference haa adopted a plan for
gradual independence from South Africa,
which begins with the installation of aa
interim government in July or August of
th b year. Clemens Kapuuo, a Turnballe
delegate and likely leader of the interim
government, told Pacific News he is
ready to allow SWAPO partidpation in
the administration, but has ruled out U N
supervision of the country’s elections.
Gold Fevar Hits Taaaeata
D A R ES S A L A A M . T A N Z A N IA
(PNS)-Gold fever haa struck northern
T n w en w ii
OSUCh t o th® OODStsmAtlOQ o f
government officials worried about smug­
gling aad the extreme hazards of the
makeshift mines sprouting up.
So far over 6,000people have flocked to
the Kahama dtatriet hoping to strike ft
rich. Using nothing but pick axes and
spades, they l»»«» dug deep pita that can
hold only coo or two men. The ore and
the minera-aro hauled up on a rope.
Though some of the pit
deep as 280 fast, there are no
against collapse. Two men have already
died in eave-ins.
miners am up a cooperative and, with the
help of the authorities, determine the
extent of quality grade ore and am up
safe mines. I t atao wants m ta e n to sail to
the State Mining Corporation at world
prices, rather than to smugglers who pay
better. But with hopes of quick riches
feeding the gold rush, the government's
plans have been largely ignored ao for.
LO N DO N (P N 8)-G u lf OB haa offialally
denied reports that the Cabinda
facilities in the northern
of Cabinda. A Gulf
firm had am been attacked by the
Cabinda guerrillas and had ao plans to
dose down Ms offshore operations in the
oil-rich province.
The Cabinda Liberation Front, known
as FLEC, had earlier warned all Golf
employees to evacuate Cabinda immed­
iately. Claiming recast successes against
Angolan and Cuban forces stationed in
the enclave, FLE C says Ms forces, which
operate from bases in Zaire, have moved
to within 10 miles of Cabinda's second
largest town. Landana.
The Angolan government announced in
mid-May that forces from Zaira bad
attacked three villages in Cabinda before
being driven beck across the border. I t
haa repeatedly accused Zaire of violating
Ms borders-a complaint that baa received
scant prom attention, in contrast to
charges by Zaira that Angola supports
the guerrillas fighting in Zaira’s Shaba
Fight On In Waste
E L A A IU N . W E STE R N SAHARA
(PN8)-W hito the Moroccan _
continnaa to deny th at Poitaario Froat
guorrfltaa are still restating Ms tokeovm
of the Western Sahara, Moroccan aoldtan
toll a different story. In interviews with
Afrtaa News Service, the aoldtan indi­
cate their convoys in the desert a n
continually attacked by the guerrillas.
Many towns arc also under aeige,
according to the aoldtan. “The guerrillas
hide in the hills and shell ua.” explained
one. "W e fire back, but they can aee ns
and we can't see them. W hat can we do?"
G»P M ym hel »
Coil
$100 ded.
Semi-annual
Rates for Portland-Surburban Rates Lower
LIFE
INSURANCE
only capacity the Zairota army I
is fo r retreat, despit
aid that it continues to receive from the
United States, France, Belgium, China
and-now-Marofco."
Should Zaire be exaggerating about
the defeat ef the guerrillas-or should the
Moroccan troope be witbdrawn-tbe
reports bode ill for Mobutu’s rata.
PARIS.
SSOded.
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Inside Africa
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pled the pbospbato-ricb Western Sahara
when eolonial power Spain withdrew in
1976.
mid the
American mercenary ends career in South African jail
by Steve
5)-American mercenary soldiers in
tia era learning that it’s a tat easier
nto that country's civil war than it
the estimated 400 Americana
5 in Rhodesia have found them-
jaitad in neighboring Black states
a Zambia and Botswana before
ieported beck to the U.S.
ra have »ucceeded in crossing into
Africa only to be hunted down and
ad to tbs U .8. by South African
nonaof the most bizarre affairs of
ane world of Rhodesian mercenar
Anwriean aoidtar for biro is now
in a South African jail awaiting
tion-not to the U.8., but back to
ia.
esiaa authorities claim that
i Sherek. 28. not only deserted the
ian Arm y, but etota firearms and
two Salisbury jewelry stores to
ood bis escape.
tale, as rotated through a friend
irek’s tatters to his father, contain
dements of a swashbuckling
of-fortune movie.
«cause Sberck'a story is real, and
i bis family haa vduabta contacts
ibingtou. it has c o m to tbs
« of congressmen, the State
nent and U .N . Ambassador
t Young, who has been aaked to
intercede on Sberck’a behalf,
rding to an aide to Sen. Orrin
[R. Utah), bis offiea has been in
it contact with both the 8outb
and Rhodesian governments over
a case.
tat them know that are are
r concerned that be not be refl-
readed for other motives, or »imply
because he's an alien or because he
deserted the Rhodesian Arm y,” said the
aids.
“One ot the postures wa a n
maintaining is the possibility that
Sherck’s implication in tbs alleged rob­
bery is a trumped-up charge."
Sherek'a father, Philip Sherek, ia a
retired military officer, now employed as
a school psychologist in Santa Maria,
California. He fears that if South Africa
decides to send his aon back to Rhodesia
he may be in danger of his life.
The government, he believes, "wants
to make an example out of my son
because they view him aa a leader in the
multiple number of desertions which
protest their racist policies."
Sherek was arrested in Johannesburg
last February by Rhodesian and South
African Police, days after he croeaed the
border from Rhodesia.
The arrest brought to an and a two-yar
mercenary career during which Sherek
fought in the civil wars of both Angola
and Rhodesia.
According to his father, the ex Special
Forces veteran had spent three toura of
duty in Vietnam training Montagnard
tribesmen in counter insurgency. He quit
the army after being refused a fourth
Vietnam tour and tried college “but felt
out of plic®.**
Following several menial jobs in Cali­
fornia and Hawaii. Sherek waa recuritad
into the Angolan civil war aa a paid
aoldier for the U.8.-baeked National
Front for the Liberation of Angola.
According to his tatters, ha and a
number of other American mercenaries
in Angola ware paid by “two Americans
dressed in suits and ties who showed up
on tbs field periodically to pay ua."
Following the victory of the Popular
Movement (M P L A ) forces in Angola
Sherek fled to Zaire and 8outh Africa,
where he and others plotted to
their fellow mercenaries who ba
captured by the M PLA.
That scheme foiled and Sbarck's friend.
Daniel Gearhart, was executed along
with three other mercenaries last July.
While in Johannesburg Sherek joined
an organisation known as the Wild Geeee
Club, described aa a kind of mercenary
labor hall. The organisation contracted
hia service» to the Rhodesian Army’s One
Commando Force, which he entered aa a
lance corporal.
Sherek made friends with two other
American mercenaries. Larry Mayers, an
ex-SDS radical from Berkeley, and
Michael Becks, from Florida.
Laat
December, with two Irish mercenaries,
the three plotted to make contact with
the Black Zimbabwe guorrillas they had
been fighting and “switch sides,” says
Mayers, who is now beck in Berkeley.
M o yen claims all five men “were
fed-up with the Rhodesians' raciat
policies."
Ha says Sherek had already made
arrangements with a Salisbury “guerrilla
contact” who referod them to another
contact in neighboring Botswana.
Sherek and Mayers traveled aeparately
by train to Botswana to make final
arrangements for the »witch, but Sherek
waa apparently stopped at the border and
turned back because his passport had
expired. Meyers waa arrested days after
he arrived la Botswana and was repatri­
ated to the U .8. lest January.
About a month later, on February 11,
Sherek, Backs and another American
mercenary, Dennis Pearce, allegedly
robbed aa exclusive downtown Salisbury
jewelry store, making off arith more than
920,000 in jewels and cash.
Rhodaeian authorities believa the three
men then hid out for several days before
a second jewelry store
robbery.
According to police, the throe m«
split up. Sherek and Becka allegedly stole
a vehicle and entered South Africa, while
Pearce stole a Cherokee airplane at a
Salisbury airport and flew north to
Zambia. Pearce was arrested by Zam­
bian police and deported to the U.S.
In Johannesburg, Becka managed to
evade South African police long enough
to get a flight aboard a Brasilian airline to
Rio da Janeiro. He has not been heard
from since.
Sherek wasn’t so lucky. A fter biding
out with a girlfriend for several day».
checked into a Johannesburg hotel. On
February 28, while sitting at a cafe near
the hotel, he was discovered by South
African and Rhodesian detectives.
Sherek’a South African lawyer, J.
Smeath-Thomas, managed to postpone
the original April extradition hearing
until May 27, hoping that diptaotatic
pressure from Washington might be
effective in the meantime.
He argues that the extradition agree­
ment between South Africa and Rhode si s
is invalid because "in the taw, the crown
colony of Southern Rhodesia still exists....
The agreement was initially between
South Africa and the crown colony, not
independent Rhodesia.''
Sherek’a father aaya he wants hia son
returned to the U .8. to testify before the
Senate Oversight Committee on the C IA .
“I suspect that Doug haa some import­
ant information." ha says, “that might
»how how some U.8. money ia being
spent in southern Africa that they might
not be aware of.”
•Stove Ceaaetty is a froetaoce JI are I Mat
wba baa reported for The Nation, tbs
Times af laalta aad PN8.
A career counselor and admissions officer at Vocational Village High
School, Tom Vickers is known for his interest in and concern for youth.
An activist in community affairs. Vickers is a Past Preaidant of the
NAA CP, Portland Branch, with an administration that ia bast known for Ma
successful discrimination suit against the Post Office. Vickers ia a former
member of the Urban League Board of Directors, a Past President af the
Royal Esquires of Portland, and former Exalted Ruler of the Elks (IBPOE
of W ).
A 33° Maaon, Vickers is in his second term as Grand Master of the Priam
Hall Grand Lodge of Oregon, F & A.M. and is Deputy of the Desert of
Oregon in the Prince Hall Shrine.
He and hia wife, Dorothy, have one daughter, Sharon.
Use all you need
but save all you can . . .
The People at Pacific Power